Veronica's Unhappily Everafter
by rocketstar
Summary: Veronica Salvatore had spent most of her time running from her past in Mystic Falls, wanting nothing to do with the town which only held bad memories for her. But late one night her brother Stefan calls her worries about their older brother Damon and reluctantly Veronica goes home and is forced to confront her past, present and future...
1. Chapter 1

_The French Rivera. That's where Veronica Salvatore wished she was instead of the grim and dimly lit dive bar that she was in, down in some small and rather obscure town in Ohio where nobody would think to come and look for her. Veronica couldn't remember the name of where she was and to be honest she didn't really care as she had plenty of time on her hands. That was the beauty that came with the eternal damnation of being a vampire, Veronica had all the time in the world. Currently Veronica was drinking away her favourite men Jim, Jack, Johnny Red, Johnny Black and Jose. It had been a rather long day and Veronica had needed something to help loosen herself up hence the several drinks, ignoring everything and everyone around her, content in her own little world. Veronica didn't tend to keep much company given her lifestyle, she was a vampire and that made her a predator and humans were pretty much her prey as she needed their blood to survive. Then there was the general stuff that came up with vampires and humans interacting, Veronica hadn't aged a day in a hundred and forty five years and it was going to remain like that, she was forever stuck in the body of a twenty one year old and humans weren't like that. Humans aged, they got older and then they died so Veronica tended not to associate with them or make close connections with them as she didn't see the point of getting close to someone only to watch them grow old without her before dying. Life was hard enough as it was without adding all of that into the mix and besides being by herself most of the time wasn't too bad, Veronica took some odd comfort in being by herself and she thought that she rather suited it. Sitting in a dark corner of the bar, Veronica pushed around a empty glass pondering whether or not she should order another drink until she was disturbed by a small buzzing sound coming from the table in front of her. Veronica wearily glanced at her phone vibrating on the table, not sure who on earth would be calling her so late. Picking up the phone that was laying face down on the table, quietly buzzing away Veronica turned it over and looked at the screen and read the caller id. Stefan Salvatore. Her younger brother… The fact that Stefan was calling her wasn't odd as Veronica kept in contact with her brother rather frequently most of the time, but for the last few months it had been rather sporadic. However what caught Veronica's attention was that Stefan was calling her this late, especially since it had been about two and a half months since the two of them had last spoke. Well that was a bit of a lie as Veronica had spoken to her brother on his birthday back in November but that phone call had barely lasted two minutes and as such Veronica didn't class it as an actual conversation with her brother. That hadn't caught up, they just exchanged pleasantries and Veronica had wished her brother a very happy 162nd birthday and apologized for not being with him to celebrate and then that was it. End of call. End of contact between the two of them until now._

 _Staring at the small device in her hand, Veronica couldn't help but sigh as she wasn't a fan of talking on the phone. She much preferred to text but she figured that Stefan must have really needed to talk to her if he was calling so late without so much of a warning, knowing full well how Veronica felt about these kind of things. Veronica could have been annoyed but Stefan was one of the few people that she was willing to speak to on the phone, despite her feelings about it so she accepted the call and put the phone against her ear._

 _"Hello?"_

 _"Hey Veronica…" Stefan replied and at the sound of her name Veronica pulled the phone away from her ear to actually look at it in shock and mild disgust. Veronica? Where the hell did that come from? Veronica wasn't known to her brothers by her given name but rather as Nino. A nickname from her childhood which had stuck for centuries. To most people Veronica was Veronica Salvatore but to her brothers she was just Nino and had been for as long as she could remember. In fact Veronica's given name was barely used by her family, the only person who had always called her by Veronica was her father and he had been dead for a very long time, pretty much as long as Veronica and her siblings had been vampires. Despite her vast age Veronica could count on her hands the amount of times her brothers had forgone Nino and actually called her Veronica and generally it only tended to happen when her brothers had done something pretty serious to warrant attempting to gain her forgiveness. It was never a good thing for Veronica when one of her brother's addressed her by her given name._

 _"Hi Stefan… It's pretty late for you to be calling, what's going on?" Veronica asked as given the time of night that Stefan was calling and the fact that he was calling her Veronica, it was safe for Veronica to assume that something had happened. She would love to be proven wrong, that Stefan was calling because he was thinking of her and wanted to have a catch up but Veronica knew her brothers too well. It was quite a shame that things were like this, before she had become a vampire Veronica was what you would call an optimist. Now she was a down right pessimist. Nothing like being a creature of the night for 145 years to turn you into a right only cynic._

 _"It's Damon." Stefan quietly replied._

 _"Damon?" Veronica repeated to make sure that she was hearing thing correctly and she wasn't hearing things because of all the alcohol that she had consumed tonight. But apparently not. Stefan had said Damon. Stefan had called Veronica to talk to her about their older brother Damon who neither of them had the easiest of relationship with. Although Veronica's relationship with Damon was a lot smoother compared to Damon's relationship with Stefan. The two of them were on very bad terms. As far as Veronica knew, her brothers hadn't seen each other in the last fifteen years and that was a good thing as Damon had pretty much made it his life's mission to make Stefan's life hell ever since the three of them had become vampires. Since then Veronica's brothers had been pretty much estranged, their relationship had been up and down over the decades and at times things had gotten pretty bad. It was a far cry from how things used to be, Stefan and Damon had pretty much been best friends when they were all still human but then one girl came in and changed everything, this girl had changed all of their lives irrevocably and that had played a big role in what had happened between Stefan and Damon. It was awfully sad but there seemed to be nothing that Veronica could do, every time she had attempted to fix her brother's relationship things just seemed to get worse. Veronica couldn't even remember the last time she had seen Damon, it had been at least a year perhaps even closer to two years._

 _"I need your help… Damon is in a really bad place at the moment, I've never seen him like this before. I don't know what I should do but I think Damon could do with seeing you right now." Stefan wearily said and Veronica had to admit that she was having a bit of a difficult time processing the information that she was hearing at the moment._

 _"W-wait? The two of you are together? Your with Damon…" Veronica replied in a slow manner as she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. Her brothers weren't supposed to be together. The last time that Stefan and Damon had been together, something incredibly bad had happened. Something completely unimaginable, not to mention horrific had occurred which still plagued Veronica's thoughts. After what had happened, Veronica had thought it was best that her brothers didn't see each other given the extent of the damage that came as a result of the two of them being together. Innocent people had been hurt. Damon had done something that Veronica would never forgive him for and bother Stefan and Veronica were compliant in covering up a huge family secret that only the two of them were aware of. Since that eventually night of May 10th 1994, Veronica had never been in the same room as her brothers. It was painful but necessary. "What's going on Stefan? Why are you with Damon? The two of you aren't supposed to be together… What the hell is going on? What on earth is going with Damon that is so bad that you think I might be able to help?"_

 _"I will explain everything to you I promise, I just need you to come right away. He needs you, I need you… Your family needs you Nino." Stefan pleaded finally calling Veronica by her family name of Nino and Veronica looked at her watch and sighed, it was late and the last thing that she wanted to do was start driving. But Stefan had said that he needed her. That her family needed her and Veronica couldn't ignore that. But if Stefan was calling her about Damon, knowing full well that the two of them shouldn't be together, knowing full well that she wouldn't like it then something must be seriously wrong with her eldest brother._

 _"Where are you?" Veronica reluctantly asked after a moment._

 _"Home."_

* * *

Mystic Falls. For Veronica this small town in Virginia was home and had been to her family ever since they had settled in Mystic Falls and helped to found it. Officially the town was founded in 1860 but Veronica along with her brothers had born in Mystic Falls, raised there and all three of them had died there and had transitioned into vampires. The old family estate was long gone, it had fallen towards the end of the Civil War, with only ruins remaining of the place that Veronica had spent all of her human years. The family home was now the Salvatore Boarding House and had been since 1914. This was the last place that Veronica wanted to be as every time she or her brothers came home to Mystic Falls, someone ended up dying. Innocent people got caught up in things they had no business being involved in and needed up paying the ultimate price. Just like Veronica, back in 1864 when she got caught up with her brothers and Katherine Pierce and ended up becoming a vampire and forced to leave behind her life in Mystic Falls, forced to leave and start afresh because of all the trouble and bloodshed that had occurred. It was why Veronica tended to avoid coming back to town, she didn't like coming back to town as it was a constant reminder of everything she lost; her home, father, friends, lover, future and most importantly her humanity. Each time Veronica came home things just got worse, incidents happened which made it all the more harder for to come back. Mystic Falls was staring to turn into a constantly bad memory for her, which is why she wasn't planning to stay long. Veronica had packed a small bag as well as Rex and had made her way to Mystic. The drive had taken several long hours and it was early morning by the time that Veronica had reached her family home that was located on the outskirts of Mystic Falls. Veronica was tired, it was more than that. She was exhausted but that really didn't matter right now as she needed to deal with this pressing matter with her family right now. This was the last thing that Veronica wanted to be doing, dealing with her brothers and the trouble that they got into was tiring even more so after 145 years. There was always carnage and bloodshed and Veronica was sure that this time wouldn't be any different.

Standing outside the boarding house Veronica took a deep breath as it was the moment of truth. No doubt Zach, her so many times great nephew wouldn't be pleased to see her as their was a long and hostile history directed at the vampire Salvatore's from their remaining human relatives. Their numbers had dwindled over the years with no particular thanks to Damon who had killed a couple of their relatives and then there was the death of their father. It didn't help that the Salvatore family were apart of a secret society, well rather the Founders Council who had a secret agenda of protecting the town from vampires – who sort of had a history here in Mystic Falls and yet her family was protecting the fact that they were related to vampires. Zach was going to flip his lid when he saw Veronica as the last time she was here along with Damon and Stefan, a bloodbath had happened and pretty much his entire would had been turned upside down – Not that he could remember it. Herself and Stefan had made sure of it. Knowing that she couldn't avoid this any longer Veronica stepped forward and pushed open the front door. As soon as Veronica crossed the threshold a shiver went up her spine, like the house knew she was here and was telling her that she had no business being here.

"Hello?" Veronica called out as she walked through the foyer, the only sound in the house being that of the heels of her shoes clicking against the wooden floors of the house. Everything looked the same but that didn't surprise Veronica as nothing ever changed here. The Salvatore were an old family stuck in their ways. Already there was a sense of familiarity and Veronica hadn't even been back in the house for thirty seconds, she knew she was home despite the fact that she had spent so much of her life as a vampire running from her past. That's all she ever did, was run from everything that happened in this small town. Things that she could never forget no matter how much she tried to and Veronica had been trying so hard to forget all the horrors that she had witnessed here. Walking into the living room Veronica came across her little brother, her Stefan who looked the same as she would always remember. Only a few inches taller than her with brown hair and the most gentle pair of green eyes that she had ever seen, eyes that had always seemed older than Stefan's physical appearance of a seventeen year old.

"Hi Nino." Stefan warmly greeted in a quiet voice but just loud enough for Veronica to hear and she offered a weak smile back. Veronica crossed the living room and embraced her brother in a hug. It was good to see him despite the rather grim circumstances of this family reunion

"You shouldn't be here Stefan, none of us should be… After what happened last time we promised we would never come back." Veronica began moving straight past the small talk as they had a real big problem here and most of it stemmed from the fact that her brothers were back in Mystic Falls. In the case of Veronica and her brothers it seemed like all roads led back here much to her dismay as there was nothing that Veronica wouldn't love more than to never come back to town but her brothers didn't exactly make that easy. But Veronica couldn't dwell on what she wanted as she had to deal with the situation that was currently right in front of her. "How long have you both been here?"

"I've been here since late spring but Damon? I don't know when exactly he came back to Mystic Falls but he made himself known to me in September and we've been here since." Stefan revealed and Veronica couldn't help but purse her lips in annoyance. Her brothers had been here for months at least and neither of them had said a word to her about it, although it was probably a good thing as she would have ripped into both of them about how stupid they were and yelled for a further five minutes before wringing their necks. Veronica wanted to yell but it was late and she was tired, not to mention that yelling would not helpful right now. There would be plenty of time for yelling later on.

"I'm guessing Zach isn't too pleased about the two of you being here, no doubt he won't be happy to see me either but then again I wouldn't be either if I were him." Veronica replied with a wearily laugh as she was certain that she was going to receive a frosty reception from Zach when the two of them inevitable met.

"Zach's dead Nino." Stefan quietly announced and the small smile that was on Veronica's face instantly dropped.. Zach was dead. The last male in the Salvatore family dead, pretty much ending the family line. Veronica couldn't believe it but the more she thought about it, the more she could actually believe it as the Salvatore's mainly the men didn't tend to live particularly long lives. A few of them had met very bloody ends and very often it was at the hands of one of their own. If Veronica was going was going to venture a guess about Zach's demise, she was going to look at previous history and make a calculated assumption that her nephew died at the hands on one of her brother and she was pretty she knew who it was.

"Let me guess Damon?"

"Yes." Stefan replied after a moment and Veronica grimly nodded her head before going about making herself a rather stiff drink as she needed something to help her process all of this information. Her brother were back in Mystic Falls, Zach was dead and something had rattled Damon so far that Veronica's older brother was a complete wreck and no doubt drowning his sorrows. Veronica had a lot of questions she needed answers but the biggest question on the forefront of her mind was what on earth had happened to Damon that Stefan was worried enough to call her and ask that she come to Mystic Falls.

"So what's the deal? Damon kills Zach and is showing remorse for what's he done? Has he realized how many damage he has inflicted on this family in the last fifteen years? Or has Damon turned off his humanity and gone off on a rampage? Am I close? Is that what's going on here? Is Damon off on one of his booze, blood and banging binges?" Veronica questioned.

"It's not what you think… There's something that you don't know Nino. Something that I wasn't aware of until a couple of months ago and it dates back to 1864 and the night that we became vampires, the night that the vampires in town were rounded up and it relates to what's going on with Damon." Stefan began and instantly Veronica could feel her jaw harden as she knew she wasn't going to like this, not if what Stefan was telling her was correct and this all related back to 1864 and the last day that Veronica was truly human. The day that she had lost everything.

"I'm listening." Veronica quietly said after a taking a long sip of her drink, motioning for Stefan to carry on and explain whatever it was that she was missing. She hoped for her brothers sake that it was something good as she would be very annoyed if her brothers had her come home for no good reason.

"The vampires were rounded up that night but they weren't burned alive in Fell's Church like we were all led to believe. Instead they had been trapped in a tomb under the church by Emily Bennett, Damon had apparently made a deal with Emily to protect her descendents if she protected Katherine. To save Katherine, Emily had to save the other vampires and to protect them she had to use the power of a comet passing over Mystic Falls to trap them in the tomb until the next time the comet would pass over town which wouldn't be for a 145 years. I didn't know any of this but Damon was told all of this by Emily not long after we transitioned and he kept it to himself. A couple of months ago Damon told he all of this, he said it was his reason for coming back to Mystic Falls. He was waiting for the comet to pass. After it passed Damon tried to open the tomb using Emily Bennett's talisman but Emily possessed her descendent Bonnie and destroyed the talisman. We later found out that there was another way to open the tomb, through Emily's grimoire which had been entrusted to our father by Jonathan Gilbert and he had been buried with it. Damon eventually got the tomb open–"

"–What? You got Katherine out and now she's running havoc around town and Damon's realized what a complete psycho she is?" Veronica asked with a small scoff as she wouldn't be surprised if that was the case as Katherine Pierce was a trouble maker. Back in 1864 she had almost brought Mystic Falls down to it's knees, she compelling her brothers, convinced Veronica's father and everyone else that she was some poor little orphan from Atlanta when in fact she was a manipulative little bitch.

"She wasn't there Nino. Katherine had never been in the tomb, she had managed to escape somehow before all the vampires were trapped. Damon had been waiting all this time, he had waited a 145 years for her and she wasn't there. Apparently she's known where Damon has been all this time but she doesn't care." Stefan revealed and Veronica couldn't help but swallow a lump in her throat. She had always hated Katherine, there was something about her that she always disliked but the biggest thing was that Veronica hated the fact that Katherine changed her brothers, changed all of them. It was Katherine who turned them all into vampires and she was the one who got between Damon and Stefan, making their relationship what it was today. Veronica couldn't help but swallow the remaining contents of her drink.

"Oh…" Veronica said shifting rather uncomfortably where she stood as that explained a lot, it certainly explained why Stefan had called her as Damon was probably about a couple of drinks from going over the deep end. This wasn't good and Veronica felt bad making presumptions about her brother. Her heart felt for Damon as no matter how much she hated Katherine, she loved her brother and she had never wanted his heart to get broken like this. "Does he know I'm here?"

"No. He's been sitting in the library and drinking this entire time, he hasn't said a single word." Stefan quietly said and Veronica slowly nodded her head, she didn't blame Damon for hitting the bottle as she would have done the exact same thing if she was in his position. Stefan had done the right thing by calling her.

"What about you Stefan? How are you doing? Katherine meant something to you once…" Veronica questioned as even though she was here to deal with Damon, Stefan looked exhausted and he had this weary and hurt look in his eyes. Veronica knew that Stefan had once loved Katherine too, both her brothers had been in love with Katherine back in 1864, that had played a big part of their estrangement. Stefan seemed to be dealing with this but Veronica knew that some part of him had to be hurting just like Damon was.

"He needs you more than I do right now." Stefan said putting himself before Damon, that was the kind of person that Veronica knew her brother to be. He was everything Veronica wanted to be; selfless and compassionate towards everyone even Damon despite how rocky their relationship was. Veronica walked towards her brother and she looked at him briefly, pausing to squeeze her brother's shoulder in a reassuring manner before heading in the direction of the library. Upon arriving at the dimly lit library Veronica was greeted by the sight of a figure sitting on a seat hunched over and facing the fireplace. Veronica instantly knew that it was her brother and she made her way across the library and over to him and instantly Veronica's heart broke. Damon looked like a shadow of himself and he didn't even seem to realize that she was standing right by him. His blue eyes, the same as Veronica's own were glassed over and just staring at the fireplace. It was so tragic to see someone who always full of life seem so broken. Moving ever so slightly Veronica kneeled down in front of Damon and took the glass of scotch out of his hand and placed it on the ground.

"Hi Damon." Veronica warmly greeted with a small smile on her face, hoping that a welcoming face could get a response from her brother. At first there was nothing, it was like Damon was looking straight through her but eventually he finally looked Veronica in the eyes. He seemed so lost that Veronica wavered for a couple of moments, not sure if she could actually help. These kind of things weren't really Veronica's area of expertise. Stefan was the one who dealt with the emotional stuff.

"Nino."

"Surprised, huh? I know so am I… Why didn't you tell me about any of this? I know that we went our separate ways for a bit but I always thought that we could tell each other anything so I was a bit surprised when Stefan told me about the tomb and Katherine. You could have told me all of this Damon, you didn't have to keep this to yourself for all this time." Veronica said in the most gentle manner that she could manage, she tried to keep things in a light tone in order to try and lift her brother's bleak spirit.

"You would have yelled if I had told you Nino, you always yell…" Damon wearily stated

"Maybe… Okay I would have yelled at you but it would have only have been for a few minutes and then I would have been okay with everything, I would have done anything to help you." Veronica admitted knowing full well that she couldn't lie as Damon had her there, if he had told her all of this himself before it all kicked off she would have read him the riot act. Veronica knew she would have ripped into her brother until the next century but this wasn't about her. This was about Damon. Veronica may not be happy with the situation or the fact that Damon was still beyond in love with Katherine even after all this time but his heart had been broken. Shattered into a thousand pieces and she needed to help him pick up the pieces.

"Nice try but I know you Veronica, you've always hated her."

"I won't deny that but I don't know what to say, I have no clue how on earth I can make you feel better. I hate Katherine, I always have but you didn't deserve this, you waited a 145 years to rescue the woman you love from a hell that you thought she was in. You deserved to get the happy ending that you were waiting for and I am so sorry." Veronica earnestly said as even though she was furious that Damon was back in Mystic Falls, that he had killed Zach but she wasn't cold hearted. He didn't deserve to have his heart broken like this, to find out the woman he loved wasn't stuck in that tomb but out and free and wanted nothing to do with. For the next few minutes neither of them said anything, they just sat there.

"What are you doing here?" Damon asked after a while and Veronica offered up a small smile to her brother. Veronica really didn't know what to say or what to do, she knew that allowing Damon to have more alcohol then he already had wasn't a good idea. Veronica knew her brother, if he kept drinking then he would end up doing something stupid and there would be a good chance that he would go and hurt someone for an outlet for his pain. Veronica couldn't have that. Just like she had to make sure that Damon didn't turn off his emotions as it was damn near impossible to get him to turn them back on. Veronica had seen her brother go years without his humanity and it wasn't pretty as Damon became reckless as hell.

"Stefan called."

"But you hate Mystic Falls." Damon pointed out in a monotone voice and Veronica briefly glanced away as her brother had her there. If Veronica really had a choice in the matter she would never come back to Mystic Falls but things were never that simple. Her family were complicated and Veronica always kept being drawn back to this town, back to everything that she was running away from. Despite the fact that this town harboured bad memories for her, veronica couldn't walk away from her family not when they needed her.

"That's true. But I'm here aren't I? Now that I've seen you I can't leave… Not whilst you're like this Damon." Veronica said in a sympathetic manner, careful not to go overboard as her brother wouldn't appreciate being mollycoddled, she needed to tread carefully around him. As if Veronica pushed a bit too much then Damon would just back away and not let her help and deal with this the same way he dealt with most of his problems; going on binges. Veronica wouldn't blame him but she knew from personal experiences that it never helped, it only numbed the pain for several hours. It was better for Damon if he dealt with all of this, no matter how much it hurt straight away. The sooner Damon dealt with all of this, the sooner he could finally move on from this entire Katherine saga and start living his life without her.

"But for how long Nino? You won't stay, you never do… Maybe you'll hang around for a week or two but how long will it be before you've had enough and disappear for weeks or months at a time before you finally decided to speak to me again." Damon questioned bringing up the fact that Veronica often pulled a disappearing act when things got out of hand. It was sort of Veronica's trademark, all she ever did was run. It was the only thing she really knew how to do.

"Along time ago I had my heart broken and it was the most painful thing that I had ever experienced and I thought that I would never get over it. I thought that my life was over and I would never recover from it. I was a wreck, I cried for weeks and I could barely function at all because I was in so much pain. There were days where I didn't think I could go on but my big brother was there for me, despite losing the person he loved my brother was there. He would just sit with me and talked to me, he would talk to me about anything and everything into the early hours of the morning. For six months my brother did this, everyday for sixth months he talked me off the ledge and not one during that time did my brother think of himself. He put all his pain to the side for me and I want to repay him for that."


	2. Chapter 2

_Time seemed to go by slowly, painfully slowly… Veronica wasn't sure how much time had passed. It seemed like she had been sitting in the library for what seemed to amount for forever but she knew that hadn't be the case. Damon had passed out a while ago which was something, at least he would get some peace albeit for a short time and would not have to be plagued about thoughts of Katherine. All of this was threatening to send Damon on a path of self-destruction. That was the problem with falling in love, it wouldn't be love if there wasn't the potential for it to consume every fibre of you and threaten to destroy you. At least that wasn't something that Veronica would have to worry about, unlike her brother she distanced herself from matters of the heart. It was less complicated that way and she wouldn't have to worry about some man breaking what little heart she had left. Stealing one last glance at the passed out Damon, Veronica let out a small sigh before leaving the library and heading back towards the living room. Veronica still couldn't believe that she was here, after what had happened last time she swore that she would never return to this place and yet here she was; back in Mystic Falls and desperately hoping more blood wouldn't be spilled. But already blood had been spilt, Zach was dead and Veronica hoped that the poor man could surely now rest in peace. Zach hadn't deserved any of this, just like his ancestors he had forced into keeping the family secret about Veronica, Damon and Stefan being vampires and Zach had unfortunately paid the ultimate price for that. They had taken pretty much everything from Zach and now that included his life. Veronica would never forgive herself for that, after what happened last time she had sworn to protect Zach and she had dismally failed in that. Not only was Veronica dealing with a major guilty conscious but her feet were killing her and so she came to a brief stop to kick off her shoes before continuing to the living room. Stefan was nowhere to be seen so Veronica presumed that her younger brother had gone upstairs to get some rest, which was probably a good thing as Stefan was going to have to be rested because Veronica was planning on having a very long and serious conversation with her brother about what had been going on for the last several months as obviously there was a bit more to this story that what Veronica had been told._

 _She didn't understand why Stefan had come back to Mystic Falls, they had all sworn not to come back to town for at least 50 years to give Zach the chance to live out the remainder of his life without any interruption on their part – which had clearly failed. There had to be a reason, some kind of reason to all of this as Veronica knew that Stefan would have left Mystic Falls when he realised Damon was here unless there was something that was keeping him here. Veronica could only wonder what was keeping Stefan here but she wouldn't make assumptions, she would just wait until she had a chance to hear the truth from Stefan. Veronica couldn't help but pinch the bridge of her nose as today she felt so much older than her 166 years, just thinking to herself that she was that old made Veronica blanche as she couldn't believe that she was that old, she still remember being a child and paying hide and seek in the family home with her mother and Stefan. It seemed like it was only yesterday but also a lifetime ago. Cradling her fourth drink of the night or rather morning since she had arrived home, Veronica wearily watched from the windows of the living room as the sun began to rise. It had been an incredibly long night and she knew her night was not going to end anytime soon. Veronica was exhausted and yet she found herself unable to sleep. There were too many things going on inside her head, too many questions she had and so far none of them had been answered. Damon was so far gone in wallowing in his self-pity and anger over Katherine that Veronica knew that she wasn't going to get anything out of him for at least several days. Damon was too upset and hung up over what had happened to be of any use to anyone including himself so Veronica allowed himself to drink until he passed out under her supervision. It was better for all if Damon was out for the count for a few hours, that way it gave Veronica time to come up with some kind of a plan as currently she wasn't sure what she really was supposed to do._

 _Veronica wasn't sure what Stefan really expected her to do, that he couldn't do himself. It was obvious that they couldn't allow Damon to wallow in self pity for the rest of eternity but they had to give him time to grieve for a love that held onto for the last 145 years. Veronica supposed all they could do was give Damon time and be there for him as best they could or rather as best Damon would allow them to be and make sure he didn't do something stupid. Draining the remaining contents of her drink, Veronica wearily looked at the now empty glass and knew that this was going to be her last drink for a while. If she was going to stay here and take care of Damon then she was going to have to do this without having a scotch in her hand constantly._

 _"How's he doing?"_

 _Turning around Veronica was surprised to see Stefan, she had thought that he had been upstairs catching some sleep but since he was standing not far from the front door, he had no doubt gone out whilst she had been dealing with Damon and had just come back. Veronica had to admit there was a part of her that wanted to admonish Stefan for letting things get this far but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Stefan was her little brother and he was her weak spot, she could never really be mad at him and deep down Veronica knew that there was some part of Stefan that was beating himself up about this entire thing._

 _"Passed out thankfully, it took a while but Damon finally got there… If he hadn't I would have snapped his neck in order to give him some small amount of peace of mind, even if for a short time… I never seen him like this, I've known Damon every single day of my life and I thought I knew every single side of him but I was wrong. He's heartbroken, genuinely heartbroken. I thought I was heartbroken about George but when I look at Damon, I can see it all over his face. 145 years he spent waiting to be reunited with the woman he loved and it ends like this. I'm worried that his heart will recover from this but I guess we'll have to wait and see." Veronica grimly noted as she allowed herself to look in the direction of the library. "I need to understand how this happened, I need to know why things got to be this way before I was called. I need you to tell me everything Stefan. We need to talk."_

 _"I know." Stefan wearily replied, walking further into the living room and seating himself on one of the couches in the room and Veronica quickly followed suit, taking a seat on the couch that was facing opposite to the one Stefan was sitting on._

 _"So start from the beginning, tell me everything…"_

* * *

A sigh escaped from Veronica's lips as she once again glanced out of the far windows of the living room that looked out into the back yard, she had no clue of what the time was anymore but the sun had risen a very long time ago and a new day had started but she was still stuck in yesterday. It had been a very long night and Veronica was way past being exhausted, she felt dead on her feet and Veronica herself couldn't remember the last time that she had ever felt so tired in her entire life. Her talk with Stefan had taken a lot longer than Veronica had anticipated, during that time Veronica had just sat and listened whilst her brother had explained to her everything that had happened from when he had returned to Mystic. Some things Veronica had been expecting to hear such as Zach hadn't been happy to see Stefan or Damon, then there was a girl involved – Veronica had expected as much, which explained why Stefan had stayed in Mystic Falls when Damon had showed up. Then there were things that Veronica hadn't been expecting to hear such as Logan Fell, a member of one of the founding families and the founders council being turned into a vampire before being killed, Damon turning a teenaged girl into a vampire out of boredom amongst many things. Although the biggest shocker of them all was that Stefan's best friend; Lexi Branson was killed by Damon on Stefan's birthday nonetheless. Veronica had been rendered speechless by that one as whilst it wasn't the worse thing Damon had done, it was certainly up there. Clearly her two brothers had been keeping themselves very busy over the last few months without her and armed with this knowledge, Veronica wasn't exactly sure of how to proceed next. The only thing Veronica was sure of, was that she didn't have to worry about the founders council sniffing around worried that vampires had returned to Mystic Falls – Damon for the most part had been careful to cover his tracks before pinning the blame on someone else. It was good to see that trouble still followed the Salvatore brothers wherever they went, Veronica just hoped that this would be the end of it but she suspected it wasn't. Looking at a particular patch of grass in the back yard, Veronica's attention was diverted by the sound of approaching footsteps and she didn't even have to look to know that it was Stefan. The upside with being with someone for numerous decades; you picked up on their habits and other things such as the sound of their footsteps.

"I brought you some tea." Stefan quietly said as he stood by his sister's side and Veronica took the offered tea with a small smile, hopefully it would help to calm her down enough that soon enough she would be able to get some sleep. There was so much information for Veronica to process and just having it spinning around in her head wasn't doing much good, she need to sleep on this.

"So the backyard, huh? That's a bit tasteless even for you Stefan." Veronica idly commented, referring to how Stefan and Damon had buried Zach's body. Looking out to the backyard Veronica couldn't help but wonder whereabouts Zach was buried. Poor man. He was killed in his own home and buried in the backyard like he was the family dog who was run over.

"We had no choice Veronica, it's not like we could put him the crypt. It would raise too many questions and everyone thinks that Zach is out of town and it has to stay like that. No one can know he's dead. I know the backyard wasn't the most suitable place but I thought it was better that he stayed here instead of burying somewhere in the woods. When the time is right, I'll put his remains in the crypt where they belong so he can rest in peace." Stefan explained and Veronica wearily nodded her head, whilst she may not have approved of how Stefan had handled things she knew that her brother had done this for the right reason. This whole thing was just rather unsavoury and Veronica felt incredibly guilty over it despite knowing deep down that she shouldn't feel that way, she hadn't been the one to kill Zach. That one was squarely on Damon and Zach's blood was on his hands but Veronica couldn't help but wonder if she had known that her brothers were here earlier, maybe she could have stopped this and saved Zach and prevented another family tragedy. Stopped history repeating itself yet again with a Salvatore killing another Salvatore.

"He deserved better than this, he deserved more from us than what he got. Zach's entire life was a mess thanks to us, even in death we're still screwing him over." Veronica grimly replied before walking away and taking a seat on the coach, curling her feet up underneath her. This whole Zach thing was a bloody mess but there was nothing more that Veronica could do as what was done was done. But she could continue to do what she had been doing for the last fifteen years, Veronica would continue to keep watch of would have been Zach's pride and joy safe, watch over her from a distance and keep her out of harm's way.

"I'm sorry for bothering you Nino and dragging you into all of this."

"I know you are Stefan but don't be sorry, I am after all my brothers keeper. I promised mother that I would look after you and Damon, keep you both out of trouble and help you both succeed. My history may indicate that I am not the best sister in the world but I like to believe myself as being a woman of my word. As much as I hate to be back in Mystic Falls, as much as I detest having to live in fear or one day receiving word that one of you have succeeded in killing the other, if one of you were to call to say that you needed my help, it would be impossible for me to refuse to help. You and Damon are the only family I have left in this world and I cannot abandon you no what matter you both do. Even if one of you burns this town to the ground, I wouldn't be able to leave either of you alone as my brothers are what make this whole immortal thing bearable when the two of you aren't getting yourselves into trouble, of course " Veronica grimly stated allowing herself briefly smile before glancing over to her younger brother. Stefan look tired, he looked like he had been holding the entire world on his shoulders and he looked older that Veronica had ever known her younger brother to be, which technically should be impossible since he hadn't aged a day in over 145 years. None of them had. Damon, Veronica and Stefan all looked psychically the exact same since that day they became vampires back in 1864. That day had changed Veronica's life in more ways than one as not only had she become a vampire but eventually she had to leave the man she loved, the place she once called home and everything she once knew. Becoming a vampire in a town that was full of vampire hysteria and had apparently just burned 27 vampires to death – although Veronica now knew that this was false, however at the time it meant she had to leave Mystic Falls eventually. She couldn't stay there forever as people would soon begin to notice that she wouldn't age. The day that Veronica left Mystic Falls was the day that turned her into the Immortal Widow as Damon liked to joke as at the time of her transition Veronica had been a bride of only 9 months.

"Why are you so calm? I was expecting more fireworks from you." Stefan asked with some minor hesitation and Veronica took a moment to take a sip of her tea as that was a very good question. Veronica had come to Mystic Falls with the intention of yelling at her brothers at the top of her lungs, chastising them both over their behaviour and having the nerve to come back to this town after what happened the last time they were here before forcing them to leave town with her the very same night or morning as the case were. Veronica had quite the temper on her and she wasn't afraid to make her feelings known on occasion, however it took a lot to anger her as being a vampire for 145 years had taught her the art of having some patience. However Mystic Falls happened to be one of Veronica's weak point so, she herself had been expecting for her temper to flare once she had gotten here. But upon arriving at the boarding house and seeing Stefan, Veronica found herself unable to unleash her anger as he looked so lost as well as Damon. As mad as Veronica was that her brothers were here, now wasn't the time for her to be yelling at anyone.

"There will be plenty of time for yelling later Stefan but right now you need to get some sleep. You look how I feel which is simply exhausted so go upstairs, get some rest and we'll deal with all of this and figure out what the next step is later. One thing the three of us have to worry about is time, we seem to have plenty of that." Veronica idly replied as she took another sip of her tea, she knew that there was no need to rush the inevitable as the upside of never again was that you had plenty of time on your hands. Especially when one of your brothers had fallen off the deep end and needed to be dragged back in before he did something he wouldn't regret. Veronica knew Damon well enough to know that right now he was what she would call a liability as he very drunk, emotional and in such a dark place that he was going to do something stupid. It was always a matter of time as things like this tended to happen every so often, Damon would do something that he would later regret and Veronica would end up having a huge headache over the entire matter. At least Damon always did things in a spectacular manner, that Veronica had to hand to her brother – he didn't know the meaning of boring.

"What about you?"

"Me? I'll be fine Stefan, I always am." Veronica softly said with a gentle smile as she encouraged her brother to go upstairs and get some well needed rest. As tired as Veronica was herself, she wasn't ready to sleep yet. She wanted to check on Damon again, Veronica also wanted to be there when he woke up as she was worried about Damon which wasn't something that she was used to. Normally Veronica tended to be exasperated or concerned with things her elder brother was doing, often acting as his moral compass but she had never before really had to worry about him. It was Stefan who Veronica tended to worry about, she so often and quite frequently worried about her kind natured and soft spoken little brother who had a lot of troubles, the kind of troubles that Veronica couldn't fix and was often in danger of consuming Stefan completely when he fed on human blood. However this time Veronica was actually worried about what Damon would do, he had been waiting for Katherine all this time and she had never been in the tomb, she had been free and running around doing god knows what. There was a possibility that Damon's heart could never recover from this.

"I'll be upstairs if you need me Nino." Stefan quietly replied, momentarily placing a hand on Veronica's shoulder and gently squeezing it before taking his leave and heading upstairs, no doubt in the direction of his bedroom. Veronica watched her brother go with heavy eyes and an even heavier heart. Her brothers were in a mess and Veronica knew that she needed to take care of them both as whilst Damon was her processing concern at the moment, she knew that she need to keep an eye out on Stefan. Sweet Stefan who felt it all and always seemed so pure of heart and Veronica felt inclined to protect him always as no matter how old they all got, Stefan would forever be her baby brother. When their mother died, the grief would have consumed Veronica if it wasn't for the fact that Stefan was hurting even more than she was. Back then Veronica had poured all her energy into helping to raise her brother into a man who their mother would be proud of.

With her brothers both somewhat soundly resting, Veronica could finally start to ease up a little and dare she say it? As much as Veronica didn't like coming back to Mystic Falls because of all the history that her family shared with this small town, this place was still home. No matter how old Veronica would get, no matter how much of the world she saw or where she lived Mystic Falls would always be here home; it was the place where she was born and raised, her family were one of the founding families of Mystic Falls. Veronica had grown up here, she had fallen in love and gotten married in this town, she died in this town and her parents graves were in this town. Mystic Falls whether or no Veronica liked it was home, it would always be home to her no matter what. A long time ago Veronica had dreamed of raising her children here, making sure that they would carry on the legacy of what had already been built here. But that had never happened, Veronica would never be able to have children and things in Mystic Falls had moved on without her. She was just an echo of the past that still lived because of some very unfortunate events. As Veronica idly stood in the living room and continued to drink her tea, she thought she heard a creak and her eyes immediately looked over in the direction of the library, wondering if Damon had regained consciousness and was stumbling around looking for a another drink. But that couldn't be possible as Damon had pretty much drunk himself to near death and as quickly as vampires recovered from injuries, regardless of whether or not they were self inflicted, it was going to take a fair bit of time for Damon to wake up. At least another six or seven hours.

Something else was here. Anyone would think that Veronica was being paranoid but she knew this house, she had walked these floors countless times and knew every nook and cranny of the boarding house. It was the only home the Salvatore's had since the original Salvatore estate had fallen with only a few ruins left in the woods remaining of the place where Veronica and her siblings had been born and raised. The boarding house had been built not long after and since then this was where the Salvatore family resided, both human and vampire. Once again Veronica had the sound of a squeaking floorboard and her attention turned to the other side of the living room, towards the front door and quickly she discarded her previous task of looking out to the garden to admire the morning view. If Zach was dead and had been for months then that meant the house would be closed to boarders a long time ago and news would have spread into town that the Salvatore boarding house was permanently close to boarders. Veronika slowly and quietly walked over to the front door and much to her surprise when she reached the foyer there was a girl. But not just any girl. It was somebody who Veronica recognized; she knew that face, she knew that light olive skin and those almond shape brown eyes very well. It may have been 145 years since Veronica last saw Katherine Pierce but she would never forget the face of the vampire who had caused so much trouble in 1864 and was responsible for her along with Damon and Stefan to become vampires.

"Well I'll be damned, you actually do have some nerve to show your face back here after all the trouble you've caused. I always knew that you weren't as innocent as made yourself out to be ever since that day you can to my family home and convinced my father to let you stay as you were some poor little orphan who had lost her family in a fire. You had him wrapped right round your little thing…" Veronica began but trailed off before she could even finish as Katherine was looking at her as if she had no clue who she was. Like she had never seen before Veronica in her life. It was strange yet compelling and Veronica couldn't help but look at the girl further and whilst she looked an awful lot like Katherine, practically the double of her, there was something about her that wasn't Katherine. The air that she carried herself in wasn't the arrogant one that Katherine always carried herself with. There was something about this girl that seemed so _fresh._ If Veronica had to summarize it, there was something about the doe eyed girl in front of her that didn't seemed so alive. This girl wasn't Katherine Pierce. "No… You're not Katherine. There's something about you that seems so human, rather too perfectly human to be anything else."

"Who are you? How do you know about Katherine?"

"I think I should be the one asking you the questions given that this is my home and your trespassing. Do you make it a habit of walking into people's houses uninvited? You do know that there is a door there for a reason and when coming over to a person's house, the general etiquette is to knock on the door and wait for someone to answer the door instead of letting yourself in. But you've clearly ignored all of that and just welcomed yourself in." Veronica curtly stated in a rather prickly manner as she was missing something here. There was a girl who looked awfully like Katherine who knew this house and let herself in as if she had been here countless times. Somebody was going to have to do a lot of explaining and it was good thing that he had seemingly heard some voices and came back downstairs to see what was going on. Veronica couldn't wait for her brother to try and explain this one to her. "I see you've neglected to tell me something, why am I not surprised Stefan? I should have known that you weren't telling me everything but I gave you the benefit of the doubt. I gave you a chance to tell me everything and you seemed to have missed out something that I would consider to be rather significant. Would you care to explain who this girl is and why she is in my house?"

"Stefan who is this?"

"I'm the sister." Veronica interrupted sharply, cutting off the Katherine look a like to turn around and look at Stefan who at least had the decency to look rather guilty about this whole thing. Veronica was surprised to see someone who looked like Katherine although a small part of her wasn't too surprised to see that a girl was involved as when it came to her brothers, in some way or another a girl was always a girl involved somehow.

"This isn't how I wanted you to meet or even find out about this but Nino this my girlfriend Elena Gilbert…" Stefan began in a rather sheepish manner and Veronica honestly didn't know where to look as this all seemed madness. Damon was a wreck because Katherine wasn't in the tomb and Stefan was dating the exact double of Katherine, the woman that he along with Damon used to be in love with back 1864. This whole thing was insane and if it wasn't for the fact that Veronica was seeing all of this for herself then she would have never believed it. A few more things were starting to make sense. "Elena I'd like you to meet my sister Veronica Salvatore–"

"–I'm the middle sibling who no one ever talks about." Veronica said, glancing at Stefan daring him to prove her wrong. This whole thing was getting a bit too much, already Veronica had been trying to process a whole lot of information but this Elena/Katherine thing was threatening to push Veronica over the edge and she didn't even have the whole story as to why this Elena girl looked like Katherine. Veronica couldn't stay here any longer, her head was threatening to burst with all this information that she had just learned, she needed to get outside for a while. To step away from all the craziness that was right in front of her and catch her breath for a moment before she was finally able to deal with it all. With a small sigh and a shake of her head, Veronica turned her back on Stefan and Elena in order to make her way back to the library as she was going to need to get her shoes in order to go for a walk to clear her head. Not to mention Veronica need to go and see someone, the first person she generally went to visit on the rare times that she came to Mystic Falls. She couldn't do anything else until she had seen him.

"Nino! Where are you going? Look… I can explain!" Stefan called out and Veronica didn't bother to turn around, instead she just chose to idly wave her hand in a dramatic manner.

"I'm going to take a trip down memory lane and go pay my respects to my husband, I figure that should give you enough time to get your story straight."


End file.
